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M5 Holographic Imaging questions


VonHess

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I am restoring a pair of m5s and had a question about the paint.  I bought these used and they are not in great cosmetic shape.  I can't tell whether the bass cabinet part of the speaker has had a bad paint job by someone along the way or if it is just the original paint wearing off.  The paint is sort of gummy and sticky and easily scrapes off with a fingernail.  It is or was sort of a matte black, which I know the M5s were available in new.  Also, there is a deep scratch that reveals a bottom layer that looks like white, which I know that these were available in white.  I am thinking the best course would be to sand the cabinet with very low grit sandpaper to keep the gummy paint from gumming up the sandpaper.  I am hesitant to put any kind of stripper that would involve moisture as I know these are MDF and moisture would make the MDF swell.    The head units of the speakers are in really good shape and don't seem to have been painted either when they were new or recently.  Does anyone have any insight or experience with this?  thanks

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Hey VonHess

I'm not really familiar with the M5 but maybe my experience with the Cambridge Soundworks Ambiance may be of help.

The CSW was finished in charcoal gray Nextel, a sort of rubbery finish that was nice when new but over the years turned quite gummy and disgusting. I removed the Nextel with paint stripper and a scraper, with final clean-up with mineral spirits. It was messy and a PITA but it did not harm the primed MDF underneath. After getting the cabinets clean I sprayed them with truck bed liner in a rattle can. There are similar coatings marketed for speakers and available from Parts Express and others, but I have used the bed liner on a number of projects and I like it. If you search the CSP site for “truck bed liner” (put it in quotes) you’ll find several threads. The commercial for Frank’s Hot Sauce goes “I put that $@#! on everything!” Same could be said of the truck bed liner. I’ve used it on AR-94Si tower speakers, Advent 400 table radios, a Polk subwoofer, the CSW Ambiance and CSW Ensemble sub/sats, and I’m “thinking” it may work on the metal plinth of my old AR XA turntable.

link to the thread is below. Good luck.

-Kent

Here's the thread:

This is the stuff I use:  https://www.amazon.com/PlastiKote-264-Black-Truck-Liner/dp/B0041DK44O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470345591&sr=8-1&keywords=plasticote+truck+bed+liner

Here's the roll-on Duratex from PE:  http://www.parts-express.com/acry-tech-duratex-black-1-quart-roller-grade-cabinet-texture-coating-kit-with-textured-3-r--260-111

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I had a pair and regret selling them...mine were scuffed, but not gummy....another option is go to home depot, and you can buy plasti-dip in a spray can....it gives a smoother finish than the spray on bedliner, and would be closer to original, if that's the look you're going for.  I bought some fabric from Joann's Fabric and my mom sewed up some panels that velcro'd together in the back to cover the towers.  it was a brown suede and looked great.

also, the woofer in the base cabinet has a foam surround and most likely needs to be redone.

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Maybe lining cabs with leopard skin is also one option. I did read Ken Hensley interview in local magazine some time ago, where Ken told he was one time hired to play somewhere in middle Europe and local promoter managed to hire working Hammond B3 for him, but Ken was a bit disappointed when he saw that B3 on the stage. It was lined with leopard skin... he thought B3 must have been used by Liberace...

Please accept my sincerest apologize for joke like this... but  this Ken Hensley story was quite amusing and this was too perfect place to tell it.

Kimmo

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Hmmm, talk of wrapping them in something has me thinking that veneer might be a good way to go.  if I could find a large enough sheet, it would be fairly easy, especially since the M5s have rounded corners.  Maybe something dark to keep with the original style of the speaker but still with a noticeable woodgrain.  Only the bottom part obviously.

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the reason I did the fabric "slipcovers" was I was unsure if I wanted to restore them totally to original or "restify" them, so I figured until I decided, this would be a good temporary way to make them look presentable....veneer would be neat, I think it would look sharp in a maple.....

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